


the valentine trials.

by jeonginks



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, kind of suggestive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24948901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeonginks/pseuds/jeonginks
Summary: it’s always fun to be stuck in a valentine themed check-point game with your crush, not to mention your hands are taped together the whole time.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 105





	the valentine trials.

Hyunjin has dyed his hair again. You sneered. It was a shade of brownish-blond.

Objectively speaking, Hyunjin is a very good-looking boy. You would admit that, from the bottom of your heart; if you were asked to anonymously agree with the fact that he has very strong and elegant features, with soft silk as hair that adorned the shape of his face, you would agree with it, because it was true. However, personally speaking, Hyunjin was not the type of good-looking that you liked.

His nose was straight and small, protruding prettily in the middle of his face without any trace of flawed skin. There were no lines and no wrinkles despite how many times they scrunch up when he laughs; his laughter more often a raspy chuckle, his voice heavy as spilled black ink, but there were also times when his laughter would come in chunks of blossoming skies, light-hearted and genuine as it taught you how to hear the stars for the first time.

His plump lips were too big for his face, often when you look at him during tutoring sessions, you would find your eyes gravitating towards those full, pink lines. And they were always curled either into his signature teasing smirk or that insufferable bright smile of his, like his face muscles simply could not bring his lips to do anything else aside from haunting you his gut-wrenchingly charming smile.

His eyes, his creamy brown eyes! It was a different shade of brown at sunrise and sunset, a different shade of brown before the drizzling rain and after the thunderstorms. His eyes could be golden brown, like the morning sunlight filtering through a jar of honey, melting into the sunrise, or his eyes could be hazelnut brown, like the satisfying first bite of a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookie and the warm cup of morning coffee that lures your sense awake. So magnetic, so warm, so sweet.

Alright. Perhaps Hyunjin _is_ your type of good-looking, but you swore to the moon and back you hold no special feelings for that boy whatsoever. In fact, you’ve got zero feelings when it came to him. None, not even a little, just nothing. Because he was and has always been since you met him, frustrating.

In the way that he always sat too close for comfort when you explain a Math problem to him, in the way that he never pays attention to the problem at hand and has you repeating it over and over again, in the way he softens his attitude to suit your tolerance level without being asked to do so, and in the way that despite how stubborn he was, he still somehow always succumb to you because he has an unspoken soft spot reserved for you.

Hyunjin was frustrating in the way that out of everyone you have ever met in your life, he was the kindest and he was the one who stuck around the longest. 

Alright. Perhaps you _had_ developed feelings for Hyunjin, but the difficult circumstance you met him under had not given you the pride and courage to admit that to yourself yet, not to mention admit it to him.

“I would have dyed it blond earlier if I had known you’ll like it this much.”

“Who says I like it?” You retorted immediately, not giving Hyunjin another second to gloat in the fact that he has got your staring at him before you even realized that your eyes couldn’t stay away.

He hummed, a small smirk appearing on his lips as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets. He rocked on his heels, back and forth, back and forth, until he stopped before your face with his waist bent down slightly and he eyed you with a widened smirk.

“You were staring,” he mused.

“Yeah, cause it looks like dry hay,” you said, your hand reached up to his forehead so you could push him away from you. The troublesomely comfortable proximity has to end before your heart learned to pick up its pace without permission again. “Out of all the days you could have dyed your hair, you pick today?”

Raising a questioning brow at you, he fiddled with a wavy stand of his locks that fell over the black headband he wore and his lower lip jutted out in faint mockery as he asked, “What’s wrong with today?”

The school was buzzing on this Saturday morning, with people moving in and out of the school gate and students rushing back and forth between tents. The inside of the school was most likely littered with heavy decorations that pertained to the different games designed by each class, and the front yard was lined up with tents the student helpers had set up the day before in preparation for the school fair.

It was all to show the best side of the school so more graduating middle schools would put it as their top high school picks.

“It’s the school fair.” You stated, gesturing around where you two stood, which was just at the side of the main path to the school entrance. “Is it really a good idea to dye your hair that rebellious color when our goal is to attract students?”

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, a hearty chuckle breathing out with a smile of the same laid-back energy. His hand traveled from the end of his soft hair to the top, his large hand coursing through the locks and flipping them back. He paused for a moment before removing his hand, keeping his face exposed to the sun now that it was without the blockage of his hair.

You frowned a little when you saw his lips tuck up into a wide, flirty smile, and you gasped inwardly when he winked in an unknown direction. Curiously looking over, your gaze hardened for a second at a couple of dolled-up girls standing across with their jaws hung slightly ajar and their cheeks reddened, completely neglecting their little siblings who they were supposed to be looking after at this school fair.

Oh, right, Hyunjin the handsome fellow has all the power in the world and he was using it to attract people into the school.

Acknowledging what he was doing, you relaxed with a tinge of bitterness settling down between your lungs, which was hardly relaxing. How come everyone got the instructor’s manual on how to get a glow-up except for you? From the way the looked, to the clothes they wore, to the way they carry themselves—it was either they were acting well beyond their age or your growth was just slower in the appeal department.

You suspected it was both of them.

Shifting your weight begrudgingly, you ignored the way you unconsciously glanced down at your posture and turned away, leaving without so much as bidding Hyunjin a goodbye. The bitterness came out of nowhere. Not in a sense that you didn’t know why you felt your heart fall ten feet down the sky when you saw how much fascination he had in his eyes when he looked at those girls, you knew very well why you were disappointed.

The boy you have feelings for was just eyeing somebody else with such intrigue, the said someone else being someone you found much more attractive than you. It was jealousy, and insecurities, and doubt, and everything lying in the middle of this mortifying spectrum of human negativity. It was rather normal to feel such a way.

You didn’t understand why in a sense that you thought you had it all under control. Your emotions were supposed to be wrapped around your fingers, not the other way around. You thought you trained yourself not to feel anything for Hyunjin, whether it was him or all the side events that happen to him. You’ve got a three-second rule—build up the walls in three seconds, get him out of your head before anything starts flooding into your chest.

Protect yourself, because how useless would one be to not have control over their own feelings? How could you fathom the idea of having control over anything else if you couldn’t even handle yourself?

A surprised yelp sounded from your throat when you felt a tap to your shoulder. Breaking out of your saddened thoughts, you turned to find Jisung looking at you with concerned eyes and a stack of papers in his hands. You breathed out a sigh of relief and bluffed a motion of smacking him across the head, causing him to stumble back with a laugh.

“Someone is moody,” he mentioned, regaining his balance, “why are you here?”

You frowned at him, “I am here to help out. We had a game for our class too, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, but–“ Jisung tilted his head to the side to think for a moment before he said, “I thought Seungmin said you won’t be coming to help today.”

“I didn’t say that,” you said.

“Well, I recruited other students to help out so we have enough help already.” Jisung shrugged. “You can go home–oh, or stick around and play! I heard a class got a cotton candy machine!”

“What? So I woke up early for no reason?” You exclaimed, your face scrunched up in dismay.

Seeing your disheartened state, Jisung frowned. You had always been one of the most hard-working students in your class, second next to Seungmin. He figured you would much rather get some sleep on a Saturday morning but you had come back to help out anyway. Was it his fault that you came today? No, but he did feel guilty that he wasn’t more thorough with you about it, and he was rather determined on making you feel just a little happier.

“Hey, wanna see something funny?” He asked as you placed the stack of paper on a random desk that was pulled out of the classroom. He flipped around the papers before pulling a piece out and holding it to your face, a smile evident on his. “It’s your response to the survey we did for our game.”

Your eyes widened. Right, you had almost forgotten about this tooth-rotting survey filled with romantic questions, unexpectedly but also obviously made by Seungmin. Only he could make something so romantic yet so tactical at the same time. It was to ask for opinions on the game, and it was so damn cheesy because your class planned to match with the Valentine’s Day theme.

“You didn’t read it, did you?” You widened your eyes at Jisung, who shook his head.

“No, why? Is it embarrassing?” He laughed, turning the paper around and scanning his eyes over it before you attempted to snatch it away from his grasp. He swiftly jumped back with his arm held up high, his brown locked bouncing cutely across his eyes as he openly laughed at your misery. “What did you put, (Name)?”

“Nothing! Give it to me! I am going to burn that paper!” You said, reaching your hand up in hopes to rescue your last bit of dignity.

Jisung was laughing harder now. Despite his rather short height, which his platform shoes kindly made up for, you were still unable to match up with his instincts and athletic ability to jump much higher than you. Every time you thought you could taste victory, he moved the paper away out from your airy grasp.

Amid this enjoyable and chaotic encounter, Jisung’s laughter quickly diminished when he felt the paper being torn away from his hand from behind. He stopped on his tracks and looked behind his shoulder, his heart jumping in shock to find Hyunjin staring down at him with a threateningly sharp gaze.

Damn. How did he not feel his presence at all, and why did Hyunjin suddenly look so much taller?

“What are you doing?” Hyunjin asked, his eyes long averted back to you.

You rubbed your arm, feeling nervous all of a sudden. The question felt confrontational, and it _was_ meant to be confrontational because Hyunjin wanted to know why you were here. It was a complaint about why you had left him at the school’s front yard alone; it wasn’t even just because you left him without a word, he had to find you in the middle of playful banter with Han Jisung.

The grade’s resident cute boy Han Jisung, guitar player Han Jisung, naturally hilarious Han Jisung—every time he hears about Jisung, it is something good; every single time he hears Jisung’s name from your mouth, it was about something good, and it was _so_ infuriating for him to watch you admire another boy right in front of his face.

The more he thinks you are falling for Jisung, the more threatened he is by the thought, and his heart gets colder at his cowardice, an occurrence he learned to hide behind a confident and eloquent facade. He hid his desire to shower you with his endless affection by talking fast and acting unbothered, and even though he has been advised against that method, he couldn’t stop himself from it.

“Give me the paper, Hyunjin,” you said, moving closer to him and reaching out to grab for the paper.

He moved away from you, his eyebrows raised in amusement when you whined and stumbled forward into his chest. Moving his hand down as he crumpled the piece of paper in his hand, his other hand flying up to press you against him not so much to stable you but only to tease you about losing your balance.

Shoving the paper into his pocket, he leaned down to your ear and whispered, “Someone is eager.”

Your heart felt weak from the mere contact, having your body lean flushed against his like this was totally against your boundary rules. Not to mention he just blew hot air into your ear by speaking into it directly. The audacity of this boy! He was tugging on all of your strings without even realizing it.

“Shut up!” You exclaimed weakly as you broke free from the half embrace he caught you in. You dusted yourself off as you glared at him, and he returned you with nothing but a guiltless smile, which made you feel so conflicted because you were both annoyed and bewitched and you were not so keen on knowing which feeling overwhelmed the other.

Jisung, who had been looking from the side, seemed to have come to a realization neither Hyunjin nor you have had the brain to understand. He hummed under his breath, drowned in his mischievous thoughts before he spoke up to break the silence, “Hey, (Name), you should go play our game.”

You looked at him, slightly appalled by the idea, “Why? It’s Valentine’s Day themed.”

“Don’t worry too much about that! It’s is just a check-point game, it’s really easy,” he said, “Besides if you really want to help, you can add to the sign-in sheet we are going to use to compete with the other classes later. The more people who play our game, the more likely we will win!”

Well, you could never deny that. Anything to help your class gain superiority over the other classes has always been one of your academic goals; somehow being able to learn in the best class of the grade gave you a sense of pride. Pulling your face into an unwilling grimace, you gave him a curt nod and a quick wave before Jisung excused himself out of the scene.

Watching him with attentive eyes, Hyunjin silently flipped the shorter boy off before returning his attention to you. You stood on your spot, contemplating with an unreadable expression until you caught him staring, then your eyes squinted suspiciously like you often did whenever you found him looking for much longer than he was supposed to. 

“What?” You asked, giving him an awkward shrug.

The question flew out of his mouth before he even knew it. “Why did you leave me back there?” He asked. “You hurt my feelings, you know.”

You rolled your eyes. All the tutoring sessions with Hyunjin have given you immunity over the flirtatious things he spills. You were gullible before, trusting him and giving in when he informed that you were being too harsh and you were hurting his little good heart, and then he would give you that triumphant grin as he leaned close to you and shoot you the million-dollar statement that never fails to get your mind racing: “ah, so you do care about me, huh?”

It was all a ploy to get you flustered, and you disliked how you always did, in fact, get flustered about him whenever he wasn’t around to see your face heat up.

“I didn’t want to disturb you,” you muttered, glancing out the window with crossed arms, “I am not exactly a sight for sore eyes. My face might ruin your plan of seduction.”

It took him a few seconds to understand what you were saying, the delay in his reaction a piece of evidence for just how insignificant his action was to him. It was just a wink, a cheeky smile, an arch of his pretty brow; he was just recklessly making people fall in love with him, it has always been an easy thing for him to do. Yet no matter how many tricks he has got up his sleeve, you somehow persisted on denying your feelings for him. Not only that, but you also blew off the idea that he would have feelings for you.

Did that make you hard to get? Sure, for the most part. It wasn’t hard to figure out that you like him, Hyunjin already knew that, because despite what your mouth babbles out, your body and your actions never fail to betray you.

All the nervous pulling of your fingers, the slapping of your heated cheeks, and the smiles you failed the suppress. Or how you would stay up late at night to handwrite him study guides, how even though you would go along with his foolery, you would never let him neglect his studies just to appeal to him, and how you seemed so much happier than him when he got his first decent grade in Biology after pulling an all-nighter on the phone with him.

It was all the things you did when you think he wasn’t aware. He had to laugh just thinking about it because it was almost tragic to see you put so much effort into ignoring your affection for him. You should have known Hyunjin always has his attention plastered all over you.

The main problem here was that you refuse to admit it, and as much as Hyunjin wanted you both to establish your feelings for each other, he would never force it out of you. He needed you to want it, on your own terms, whenever you are ready, and perhaps then it would be easier to accept that you like him and he likes you back. But it has been months now, the school year would come to an end soon, and you were still stuck in denial.

“Do I sense jealousy?” Hyunjin put on a smile. Then his voice lowered with sincerity, but the teasing grin stayed on his face. “I won’t do it anymore if you don’t like it.”

You scoffed, spinning on your heels and heading to your classroom, “I don’t care what you do. Go flirt all you want.”

Your heart thumped at the fact that he cared enough to tell you he would stop if you ask him to; his thumped at the fact that you were visibly upset with the idea of him messing around with someone else. But neither of you could hear your hearts drumming in your chests as he trailed after you to your classroom.

Your classroom was much more different than how it used to look like, as expected. There were pink and red balloons taped to the entrance door, accompanied by heart-shaped papers stuck to the wall and windows. The first person who greeted you when you stepped into your classroom was Seungmin, with a little bow clip tugged in his brown bangs and a strained smile that faded the second he recognized you.

“Class president! I am here to play!” You mused, walking closer to the desk he stood behind. You looked up at his hair and back down at his annoyed expression, and you laughed, “And I see you are trying on a new look today.”

Hyunjin followed closely behind you. His eyes widened at the new look Seungmin presented but he remained in silent amusement from behind you.

“One of the middle-schoolers brought their baby sister and I was, unfortunately, forced to wear it." He rolled his eyes.

“Well, I don’t think it’s unfortunate,” you said, “The hair-clip really suits you. You look very adorable, Seungmin.”

He grumbled under his breath. You were not the first person to tell him this. Teachers who were passing by to do check-ups and his friends helping out in other classes have already marveled enough on how cute and lovely he looked with the hair-clip, it almost made him wonder if he didn’t use to look nice before its appearance.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he said, pushing the sign-up sheet towards you. “Just sign your names here and start the game.”

You grabbed a pen and leaned down to put your name on the bracket. As you did so, you lightly breathed out an approving hum at how much signatures were already present on the paper. “Hey, we might win this competition if this continues,” you said as you pointed at the paper with the tip of your pen. You glanced up at him then, smiling, “Maybe you should add one more bow, I think that is attracting people here.”

Seungmin gave you a sarcastic smile, tilting his head to the side, “Aww, are you falling for me now?”

You faked a laugh. “I just might if you add one more bow.”

Oh, you cheeky bastard. Fine, there was nothing for Seungmin to feel irritated about. The game itself would definitely be a good enough payback for you, considering who you had decided to have joined you on this check-point game designed for couples. Of all the things he would be doing on this day, Seungmin never thought he would be playing cupid. This day has certainly gotten more interesting.

Looking behind your shoulder, he gave a glaring Hyunjin a wave and pointed down on the paper. “You have to sign in too.”

Hyunjin grimaced, walking forward and glancing down at the paper with faint interest. “I am not playing.”

“You have to. This is a check-point game designed for two people, look." Seungmin gestured towards the preparation area where pairs were having their intertwined hands wrapped up with a variation of pink, red, and white tapes. Turning back to Hyunjin, whose eyes were heavily focused on the hand-holding aspect of the game, and he smiled in triumph.

“I won’t pressure you to play it, of course,” Seungmin shrugged, watching as Hyunjin started to lean towards the table, his hand blindly searching for a pen. “I can always just ask somebody else to play it with (Name). Actually, I think Jisung is coming back–“

“I’ll fucking play,” Hyunjin cut him off with an annoyed grumble, leaning down to scribble his name on the paper before dropping the pen. He eyed Seungmin carefully, not sure whether to strangle the smart boy or to thank him for designing such an opportunity. Then he went to stand by your side and immediately, he reverted to his usual, playful self.

You were looking at the duos in the preparation area, all laughing and trying to find the most comfortable position to hold their hands together before they were sent off on their missions. A surge of excitement flooded through your veins that you forgot to make a snarky remark about having to hold Hyunjin’s hand and to follow your three-second rule.

You were thrilled, just as Hyunjin was delighted about the idea. This isn’t just an accidental brush of the hand, which was all you two have done when it comes to skinship regarding the palms and the fingers. This is holding hands, where your fingertips could softly feel and trace each curve of his knuckles and he could feel the calming of your skin as your warmth radiates off each other, and just the pure act of linking fingers serves as a momentary reminder that he is there with you, as you are there with him.

“Okay, I’m going to have to tape your hands together so hold each other nicely,” Seungmin said as he ripped off a line of pink tape. “The duration of the game depends on how long you finish each task and get your checkpoints, as do the prizes you get at the end. If you want to get out of the tapes earlier then finish everything quicker.”

You nodded at his instruction as Hyunjin casually slipped his hands into yours, his slender fingers gliding easily between the gaps of yours before he held onto you tightly. He squeezed your hand and loosened his grip, then he tightened it again when he figured it would probably feel more fulfilling under the sticky tapes. You rolled your eyes at his fidgety movements, waiting for him to stop clenching his hand around yours before you complained.

“Are you finished?” You asked, looking up at him.

He could only smile down at you. Your hand was so soft and fragile, it felt warm and he was content. “I’m sorry, but your hand feels really nice,” he commented with a shrug.

“Oh god, Seungmin, please go faster." You glanced down at the poor boy, finding him glaring back up at you as he paused his movements. You flashed him an apologetic smile in return, rolling your eyes up at Hyunjin pointedly as you did so.

“You know, I haven’t heard a single complaint from you,” Hyunjin interjected, bringing your attention away from the class president and back to him. That despicable grin was still present on his face when you snapped your head back up to frown at him. “You want to do this, don’t you?”

“You think too highly of yourself, don’t you?” You retorted with a deadpan expression, completely unbothered by the sticky tape as Seungmin focused on wrapping it around your joined hands, trying so hard to ignore the banter happening from above. “If anything, I think you might be the one who wants this.”

Hyunjin left the words unspoken in the light squish of your hand, even though your hands were already being bounded together tight enough. The low chuckle he breathed out only showed you how undiscouraged he was by your lack of enthusiasm. He seemed all too blissful about the situation, and he was; being able to hold you without having you swat him away like he was a poisonous vessel was one of the many goals he wanted to meet.

Seungmin finished up with bounding your hands together and he stood up. He twirled the tape holder in his hand as he gave you both a quick analytical glance, his mind wandering off in wonder about exactly when you two would turn the tables and finally end this awful stalling of mutual pining.

He only gave himself a few seconds to dwell in the thought before he clapped his hands together, gaining both your attention. Smiling, Seungmin gestured towards the door, “Please go to the next class and start your first task. Your next location will be revealed to you when you pass the first game.”

Ah, he just couldn’t wait to have both of you out of the classroom so he could help out with the other guests looking around.

* * *

**Game I: The Trivia Game**

You should have expected that. It would not be a series of games designed mainly for couples if there wasn’t a segment specifically catered towards testing how much the pair know each other. A frown laid permanently on your lips when you and Hyunjin entered the classroom and sat down on the waiting area for a pair that was close to finishing.

“Do you think we should cheat?” You muttered to him, your eyes trained on the two pink slips of paper the student helper was holding. You assumed they had couples write down answers to the questions they have provided on there, that would be the only way for them to get this trivia game going. “Maybe we should give the vaguest answer and call it a day?”

“I never thought I’d see the day when you choose cheating as the method,” Hyunjin replied. “But shouldn’t you have some faith in us. I think we know each other pretty well.”

You hummed suspiciously, “Are you sure? Because I honestly feel like I know nothing about you. Like if you ask me what your favorite color is, I would say something wrong like black and white.”

“My favorite color is black and white.”

“Oh, damn, okay,” you leaned back against the chair, quite baffled at how your subconscious knew of that information. Looking up at him, you asked, “Do you know what my favorite color is?”

“Brown,” Hyunjin said immediately, turning over to look at you with a cheeky grin, “just like my eyes.”

You faked a disgusted gag, looking away from him. He wasn’t wrong, though. You did genuinely adored his brown eyes, as much as you didn’t want to, but since when has your heart ever heed your advice to stay away from Hyunjin. And to say you liked the color brown because it was the color of his eyes felt like an understatement to you, somehow. The color brown could not even begin to compare with those glowing embers he had for eyes.

The second you found yourself falling for him, his eyes stopped being just brown anymore. It was so much more than that. It was the bold changing of seasons, the rise of the breezy autumn air, and the scattering of the fallen brown leaves. And for God’s sake, you have got to stop thinking about his eyes! Swim back up, (Name), you could not keep drowning in them!

When you finally snapped out of your thoughts, the student helper had already come by to hand you and Hyunjin both one slip of paper and asked you both to fill it out for the trivia game later. The idea of cheating had long been erased from your mind as you went down the questions, occasionally remembering to fill it with an easy answer among all the honest answers.

You two were later brought to a corner of the classroom with the helper standing before you both. She was supposed to randomly ask you both three questions; to pass, you two have to get at least two questions right.

“Okay, let’s start with Hyunjin,” she looked up at the boy, her eyes glittering slightly but she held it down at the mere thought that he was already taken by you. She looked down at your paper and hummed. “Alright, what is one of (Name)’s go-to drink and what problem do they have with it?”

“Apple-banana smoothie, they make it at home by themselves all the time,” Hyunjin said, snapping his free hand, “the problem is that they don’t know how to peel the apple skin off so they always have to make it when their parents are home to help. Or, well, when I am there to help.”

You pursed your lips together. Fine, you would give him that. You did remember telling him about the smoothie story because you brought a bottle with you to the library once and you shared some with him using the library water cup. Since then, you had always brought two bottles with you so Hyunjin wouldn’t have to keep refilling a small cup for himself.

“Correct! The second question, let us go with an easy one. What size of clothing does (Name) usually wear?”

“Large, occasionally extra-large.” Hyunjin shrugged. “They have a habit of buying oversized clothes, which is so weird because why spend the money when you can just take mine?”

You squeezed his hand in hopes to cause some pain but you figured it was to no avail. You had no idea what Hyunjin was trying to do but he seemed to be determined to carry out the narrative where you two were playing this game as an actual couple. Ignoring his gaze, you paid your focus on the floating balloons being stuck to the wall as decorations and his round to be done quickly so you could have something to think about.

“Correct again! The last question for you, Hyunjin,” the girl exclaimed all too happily, clenching the papers in her hands as her interest in him just spiked to a maximum. Good-looking and attentive? What more could a person ask for? “What is (Name)’s favorite color?”

You sucked in a quiet breath. You were hoping she wouldn’t pick that question because you had just shot down the answer Hyunjin gave you. Oh, it would be so embarrassing for him to know that you still wrote the color of his eyes down as your favorite color after all the scoffing and eye-rolling.

Hyunjin pursed his lips together, in deep thoughts. When he spoke, his voice was dubious, “Purple?”

The student helper frowned with a shook of her head, flipping the paper slip as she did so to prepare for your round, “No, that’s wrong. Fortunately, you did meet the requirement, so it is all up to (Name) now!”

The relieved sigh you huffed out was hidden by the light-hearted smile you showed the helper. Unconsciously, your grip on Hyunjin’s hand tightened due to how nervous you were about this stupid game you never planned to take seriously. The fact that Hyunjin got the first two questions right was not only surprising, but it also told you something you didn’t want to believe: he pays a lot of attention to you, more than you could understand why.

And as giddy about that fact as you were fearful of it, you still gave yourself some space to clap for his observant skills. Not only did he observe and listened, but he also remembered, contrary to your expectations. It would be a shame for you to do badly on this part; what would he think of you then? Would he feel like his attention was not appreciated nor reciprocated? That would be dreadful, you wouldn’t want him to go through that.

“Okay, first question, (Name)! What is Hyunjin’s favorite season?”

You turned to look at him, hoping for a hint only to get a shrug in return. He was looking expectantly down at you as he knew you have the answer somewhere in your head, you just needed to trust your instinct. Averting your eyes back to the student helper, you let out a doubtful chuckle and answered, “Autumn… I think?”

“That’s correct!”

“Oh, nice,” you exclaimed under your breath, pumping your fist in front of your chest as a smile erupted on your face. “I might be good at this, actually.”

“We will see about that. The second question is–don’t look at him right now, does he have dimples when he smiles?”

Oh, you should know this! But somehow, the second the question was presented to you, your mind simply blanked out the same way it would during an important exam. Your jaw dropped and your eyes squinted, rolling to the side in temptation to just turn over and take a sneak peek at his face. From the top of your memory, you were leaning towards him having dimples, yet at the same time, it felt as if you couldn’t see it sometimes.

“Hold on, I know this.” You held up your hand, thinking carefully. “I should know this! You are always smiling for some stupid reason!”

“That’s because I like you, (Name),” Hyunjin said in a whining tone, twisting and turning his torso adorably as his lips quirked up into a grin you couldn’t look at.

“Oh god–shut up, Hyunjin,” you pleaded hopelessly, your eyes shut tight when you just could hear his smile from next to you, luring you to take a look at his face. “Wait, sometimes you do sometimes you don’t but–maybe they’re just wrinkled at the side of your face?”

“Wrinkles–(Name), I do not have wrinkles–“

“You will if you keep smiling,” you cut him off before quickly meeting eyes with the student helper, a hopeful smile lingering on your face. “I’m thinking… yes but it depends on how he smiles. When he smiles really big, I don’t see it, but when he purses his lips into a smile, I can.”

“Actually…” the helper looked up at Hyunjin despite having the answers right at her hands. He raised a brow at her and nodded in confirmation, so she hummed, “He says you’re right so I guess you got that one correct as well!”

Upon hearing that, your curiosity got the best of you and you cranked your neck up to look at him. You squinted your eyes and asked him to smile for the first time, and there it was, the soft indent on the side of his cheek, almost covered by the long hair that draped over his face. You flashed him a little frown.

“Why do you look so disappointed, (Name),” Hyunjin muttered, feigning a pained expression by furrowing his brows. “It hurts my feelings.”

“No, I’m not disappointed,” you shook your head, unconsciously squeezing his hand. “I was just thinking, I’m not disappointed.”

Because how could you ever be? Hyunjin has a smile crafted by the Gods. It was like the sun has specifically carved a space out of itself and handed it to him. Hyunjin smiles like he drank the sun and now his entire body drowns in its essence, the afterglow glimmering on top of his skin and his beautiful features because the sun is all that he can take and more. And whenever you see it, you felt both warmed and endeared, like the warm spot of your unmade bed on a Sunday morning.

“What is the last question?” You asked, looking away from him.

“Um… I’ll just give you this one, what is his favorite color?”

“Oh, easy, black and white,” you replied.

“No… I’m surprised you both got this one wrong.” The girl gave you a sympathetic smile as she shook her head. “I thought it would be obvious.”

You titled your head. You swore it was black and white, he told you it was black and white. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just…” she laughed, “You both wrote each others’ eye color as your favorite color.”

* * *

How long have you two been holding hands by now, Hyunjin wondered. He wasn’t counting, if he counted the time it moves faster for him somehow, and he would much rather enjoy having your soft skin against his just the way it felt instead of worrying about how much time he’s got left or how long it has been.

You two did not speak after the dramatically big reveal of the answer to the question you both got wrong, both still basking in the information that you had each others’ eyes as your favorite colors, and how the game took a much more romantic turn at the end

Even Hyunjin remained silent in thoughts because he hadn’t expected you to put that as the answer, and he wondered if you meant it when you did. Gathering all his courage, he slowed down his pace even more than he already did to match up with your pace, and he had to tug at you lightly for you to stop in the middle of the hall when you continued to walk ahead of him.

You turned back, looking at him with questioning eyes. “What?” You asked, blinking at him.

He was looking at you in that unbearable way again. The sincere intensity of his eyes making you shudder, but as fervent as his gaze was, Hyunjin never fails to key in a tinge of softness in then. He looked at you like he was in love with you, in the most tender way possible but also with the most passionate burns of bright red fire that never ceases.

“Hyunjin…?” You did not dare take a step closer to him. You could crumble, you knew, under the weight of his gaze your heart would give away.

“I meant it, about my favorite color,” he confessed, ignoring all the people walking around him and focusing only on you. “It is the color of your eyes.”

You processed his words, feeling lightheaded. It was like you never knew what your eye color was until he told you he liked it, and you were just feeling the holy awakening of such revelation. You were going to head home tonight and smile at yourself in the mirror, not understanding why Hyunjin felt that way but feeling so euphoric that he did.

“Thank you.” You nodded. “I meant it with yous too.”

Hyunjin felt his breath caught in his throat and he had to regulate his breathing for him to intake any oxygen.

It felt stupid at first—the color of his eyes? Such a small, trivial thing. But it had always been the littlest things that got him so pumped up and made him stay up all night with faraway daydream lingered in his head.

And there is nothing wrong with that; there is nothing wrong with being lovesick, with feeling like he could soar through the sky from one bright smile you returned him, with exaggerating love.

Because no matter how much you dramatize it, love would somehow always be bigger than.

Hyunjin flashed you a smile, a smug one. ”I know.“

You rolled your eyes and turned away, while he walked to catch up with you. A smile tugged at your lips at his reply, and despite having millions of retort options laying around in your head, you kept silent.

* * *

**Game II: The Obstacle Game**

There was a table located in front of the classroom, with a student standing behind it with an exhausted expression forced out of her face by a smile. Behind her was a set of black mesh blanket messily taped to the top of the doorframe, blocking the outside light from entering the classroom. When she saw you and Hyunjin approaching, she seemed to breathe a sigh and reached over to the basket located in the middle of the desk, pulling out a long piece of fabric amongst the array of tangled ones.

“Seungmin sent you here, I suppose?” She said, the boredom in her voice leaking heavy. Moving her eyes away from you and up at Hyunjin, she raised her brow with interest before pointing her finger at him, her eyes averting back to you. “I didn’t know you two are a thing.”

Your bit your lower lip and widened your eyes, processing her words. A thing? As in a pair? A couple? Significant others? That was what she meant, right? Like people who are dating each other, people who reciprocate special feelings for each other, people who hug and kiss—oh god, you were thinking about his lips again, his kissable pink lips.

The possibility of touching it made your chest ache endlessly and you need to snap out of it.

“We’re not,” you laughed nervously, shaking your head, “He just happened to be there when I signed up to play the game.”

She gave you a low hum of acknowledgment as she fiddled with the fabric in her hands, her eyes grazing past Hyunjin for a moment to hope for some reaction. He gave her none, his eyes boring holes in her skull with the same amount of boredom she had been expressing to the middle-schoolers passing by today.

“You two should, though,” she mentioned after looking, a shrug hanging on her shoulders. She saw Hyunjin shift out of the corner of her eyes, possibly a head tilt of pleasant surprise.

“What–what do you mean–why?” You stuttered defensively, continuing to laugh nervously.

“Why not? You two spend so much time together,” she muttered, “I reckon you two spend time outside of school too, don’t you?”

“That we do,” Hyunjin chimed in, his voice a cheery kind that you wouldn’t have to look to know he was grinning.

“Yeah, and that makes us friends,” you sighed truthfully, but the wavering in your eyes did not go unnoticed.

“Really?” She deadpanned, dropping her hand on the desk. Pulling her eyes away from you, she pointedly looked at Hyunjin and back at you, then back at him again just to further access his defining facial features. She grimaced when Hyunjin flashed her a flattering smile and she spoke, “Look at him and tell me you genuinely want him to be just your friend.”

“I am not going to look at him.”

“Proves my point.” She shrugged. “He makes you weak.”

“He does not–okay, you know what, we are on a tight schedule here,” you said, holding up your taped hand and glaring at her for exposing all your darkest desires right in front of Hyunjin, “so if you can hurry up, we would like to move on, please.”

“Fine,” she said, “this is an obstacle game. It is as the name sounds, one of you will be going through certain obstacles, like climbing tables and leaping through cones on the floor, under the guidance of another. It is to test how much you trust each other, basically.”

“Which one of you are going to be blindfolded?” She asked as she held up the fabric in her hand and looked at you both. When none of you answered, she rolled her eyes in annoyance, “We’re not going to make it that easy for you. I already one of you is gonna guide the other, so who is wearing the blindfold?”

You hummed under your breath, turning over to Hyunjin in hopes that he would volunteer. But he only shook his head, his tongue poking out of his lips slightly as he laughed to himself about the hilarity of the situation. When he met your eyes, he raised his brows at how expectant you looked, and for a moment he almost caved in.

A huff escaped your lips when he shook his head, and you grimaced into your words, “But I don’t like being blindfolded.”

“Aww, that’s a shame, (Name), because I don’t like being blindfolded either.” He leaned down to your shoulder, his breath fanning against your neck and causing the hair to spike up at the warm distance. Hyunjin chuckled against your ear, his voice feathery as a whisper when he teased, “I only put blindfolds on people.”

There was a buzzing sensation on where his words, and its suggestive connotation, hit the skin of your neck. You were utterly unprepared for the shivers that you almost flinched away from him with a squeal. And even though you wanted to shove him away with a light smack, all you could do after that was give in, with your breath hitched in your throat and your mind heaving for an escape out of this rabbit hole he has thrown you in.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” you said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Great. I will be blindfolding you because both of you only have one hand,” the student helper said, giving Hyunjin a pursed smile. “But you can do that at your own time if you’re into that.”

When she was finally done, all she did was direct you to the back where the classroom was before she went ahead to help with the next pair that had come along. Hyunjin carefully tugged at your hand and brought you along with him, moving past the mesh drapes and into the dimly lit classroom. He whistled slightly, impressed by the amount of effort placed into keeping the place as dark as possible just for the atmosphere.

There were three-station tags each pair was supposed to go through; very few but it seemed to be taking people more time than usual. A few students helpers stood at the corner to observe in case anyone tried to leave without going through each trial.

You moved slow, your steps stuttering in doubt that he would bump you into a wall. And, certainly, the lack of faith you placed in him was concerning, but he would consult you about that when this trial ends. For now, he thought it would be best to help you focus on getting through the obstacles instead of bombarding you with unnecessary bickers.

The first two trials of obstacles were an easy pass. Nothing too terrible with jumping through cones and hoops, nothing too hard with sticking paper parts of cartoon characters back to their original place after dodging walls of textbooks stacked up from the ground. Child’s play; Hyunjin didn’t even have to remotely scream instructions at you to breeze past those two trials.

It was the third one that got a little tricky. It took up the most space in the classroom as well, with chairs placed on top of tables and desks spaced out from each other like a mini bridge. You were supposed to walk through three separate desks and climb up a chair placed on top of one, all so you could grab heart-shaped styrofoam from the top of another chair stacked on another. Hyunjin frowned when he glanced at the unstable structure; how did your class get this approved by the teacher?

“You can climb the desk right?” Hyunjin asked after he guided you over to the start of the trial. He watched as you placed your palm flat against its surface, calculating its height even though you just sat on it yesterday. “It will be kind of hard for me to hoist you up.”

“I can do it!” You exclaimed quietly.

He watched you in amusement when you scanned your surrounding anyway before you put your joined hands and your free hand on the table. You pushed yourself up and placed your knee on top of the edge of the desk, feeling a strong presence behind you when you slipped. Gasping, you instinctively glanced behind your shoulder with furrowed brows, “Is that you?”

“Yes,” Hyunjin replied calmly. “Go on. I’m just here so you don’t slip and fall back on the floor.”

You pushed yourself up freely this time, flinging yourself on top of the desk before you sighed at your success. Hyunjin faintly smiled, the endearment sparking in his eyes when he saw the smile you wore on your face. He reached out to fix your hair, his pinky finger brushing past your temple while you huffed out in accomplishment.

“There you go. Now just stand up and be careful when you walk, the desks are not placed together,” he said, helping you up with his free arm extended beside him in preparation to catch you if you were to trip and fall.

You muttered encouragements to yourself under your breath as you tested each surface with small taps of your feet, listening to Hyunjin when he told you whether you were needed to move forward a little bit more. Before you even knew it, you had started to put more trust in him as you went ahead of the trial blindly.

And you were so concentrated on the task at hand that you didn’t even have the mind to acknowledge the feeling of his hand around your ankle each time to carefully hop over to another desk, having angled himself in a way that his body would catch your fall instead.

“Okay, good job,” Hyunjin muttered when you were finally on the last desk. Sparing the chairs a glance, he frowned but didn’t say more than tell you about what was up ahead. “There is a chair in front of you, just get on top of it. Be careful.”

You let out a defeated whimper but your hand reached out to test the structure of the chair anyway. Stepping your leg up on top of the surface, you squealed when the chair rattled slightly under your weight, and you could hear Hyunjin curse as his hand shot out to grip your uniform shirt tightly, his eyes glaring at the inanimate object.

“Hold the chair, Hyunjin! Not me!” You exclaimed, putting your hand on top of his.

He scoffed, “I am trying to protect you, (Name), not the chair!”

“I won’t fall if you stable the chair!” You reasoned, slapping the back of his palm urgently.

Glaring upwards at you slightly, his gaze moving past your free hands that landed on top of one another, Hyunjin unwilling moved away and wrapped his fingers around the metal leg. He gave you a childish grumble as a signal for you to move, and he watched you like a hawk as you stepped onto the chair’s surface. With his arm raised to accommodate your current height, his neck cranked up to see your progress.

“There is another chair in front of you and there are some styrofoams on it. Just grab one and get down slowly,” he said.

You nodded, feeling the chair in front of you and furrowing your brows when your hand had to move upper than you expected. They must have stacked two chairs together then. Humming, you reached your hand up, stretching it as far as you could to feel the surface before patting it a few times to feel the open space.

Hyunjin watched you carefully, moving his head so he could see better. Your finger was almost touching the styrofoam rolled to the back corner, and after contenting to stretch forward but to no avail, you did the unpredictable act of hopping on the chair so you could have a wide range of range. You grabbed the styrofoam in your hand, but your feet lost its balance immediately after you landed back on the chair.

“Fuck–“ Hyunjin panicked when you started falling towards him.

He let go of the chair instinctively, his hand reaching up to catch you. His legs stumbled backward when your body crashed onto him and he fell back onto the floor with a painful groan, his eyes squeezing shut at the feeling of his hip bone-crushing between your weight and the floor. His shoulder blades burned with a sour sensation, his senses replaying the jabbing of his bones against the ground even after he settled on the ground.

Oh, that sure hurt like a bitch.

The gasps surrounding you pulled you out of your blanked out mind. You were too scared to react when you started falling, but you had a feeling Hyunjin had shielded you from the impact when all your head felt was the softness of his torso when you dropped to the ground. Dropping the heart-shaped styrofoam in your hand, you scrambled up from his body, flinching when you heard him groan in pain at your sudden action.

He opened his eyes and sat up from the ground, his elbow propped up behind him to support his torso. For a second, he glared at you, wanting nothing more than to scold you for even thinking about jumping on that unstable chair. But his mouth sealed itself shut when he felt your hand on his abdomen, feeling him up in an attempt to access what position he laid in. Your hand patted up his chest, his shoulders before finally, you scooted yourself forward on his thighs with one hand pressed against his cheek.

You touches had shut him up completely, and on a subtle level, flipped a switch inside of him that wasn’t meant to be touched by you yet. It was reserved for you, surely, but he didn’t think now would be the time. His eyes softened at the concerned frown and the warm heat of your palm, his heart thrashing about when you leaned close to him for the first time.

“Oh god, Hyunjin, I am so sorry! I shouldn’t have jumped!” You babbled, “Are you okay?”

He couldn’t see your eyes, but he could imagine them to be filled with his reflection. If he could untie your blindfold just to see that glory, he would, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to have you see him show this kind of vulnerability yet.

For the longest time, he had masked his affection with mischief and playfulness. His eyes were always bright when you looked at him, he made sure of that. He wanted you to know he enjoyed your presence, he wanted you to know that he loved you majestically, with brightness and charm.

He wasn’t ready for you to see him love you in any other way yet. Like at night when he would think about you, and he realized he could love you quietly; where his whole body turns soft as if he has no bones to break and the rare sentiment behind his eyes float like the petals on calm rivers. It was drastically different from the morning suns he showed you.

When Hyunjin loves you in the morning, he is electrically energizing. He makes you laugh and he makes you roll your eyes. When he loves you at night, he is free and vulnerable but he can never hurt, not by you. And hopefully, when the day comes that you finally get to see him in such naked glory, he can make you love as well.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” he replied. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, smiling in relief, “thank you for catching me.”

Hyunjin kept his gaze on your lips longingly. He nodded, “Always.”

* * *

You kept glancing at him. He could see the worry thrashed between each flicker of your eyes, staring and observing him just in case you catch him flinching when the wind accidentally hits him too hard. He almost wanted to prank you for it, just imagining how panicked you would be if he acted dramatically about the bruise that probably formed on his hip bone and possibly his back too.

He probably would have if he wasn’t so dazed from the previous trial.

“Stop looking at me like that, I said I’m fine,” Hyunjin mumbled with his head facing forward and his free hand shoved in his pocket.

“I’m just worried,” your voice trailed off as you looked away, abiding by his wish to stop subtly checking up on him.

“I know.” His heart softened and his voice was softer. “Thank you for worrying about me, but it’s just a small fall. You might be heavy but I am much stronger than you think.”

You smiled, your lips pursing and your eyes rolling to the side with a glare. He just had to go ahead and ruin the light-hearted moment. Shoving him with your shoulder, your strength not strong enough to push him away because, well, your hands were still taped together, you reached over to smack his arm with your free hand. “Should have smashed your bones when I had the chance.”

“Ouch, that’s harsh,” he giggled, shaking his head in disbelief.

When his laughter finally quieted down, he smacked his lips together with a head tilt, recalling the scene where you sat on top of him on the floor just then, his eyes ablaze and his mind afloat. His heart clenched again remembering the way your hand touched his jaw and the sound of urgency dripped from your lips, for him.

“You were worried when you dropped on top of me, you know,” he mentioned, turning to you. “It surprises me more and more just how much you really care about me.”

You gagged in annoyance, wanting nothing more than to blow him off. Why did he have to say it out loud? He could have just kept that to himself and allow himself to feel the bliss in silence. If you agree with him, it would give him the satisfaction that he was right, which yes! He was right! But your stubbornness would hate it for him to get that right and for him to show that smug grin of his.

“No, I only acted that way because I was the one who dropped on you.” You pointed at yourself to put emphasis. “If you fell on your own or if somebody else dropped on you, I would have laughed before asking if you are okay.”

“Oh? So you would still ask me if I’m fine,” Hyunjin sang pleasantly.

“Of course! I’m not heartless or anything,” you mumbled truthfully. “And you’re my friend. I’m not gonna leave you to die or anything.”

His bubbly mood vanished in an instant. Uncertain to why he suddenly felt such a strong hatred towards the label, he averted his sharpened gaze towards some poor middle-schoolers walking past the hallway. The word ‘friend’ has never earned any strong reaction out of him, it was just a label, he didn’t care much about that. So why now?

Was it because you ditched him to have a fun time with perfect Jisung? Was it because you humored Seungmin the possibility of you falling in love with him over a stupid ribbon clip? Was it because you tried to solidify him as just a good friend twice within twenty minutes?

He was attacked relentlessly by you, and it was not the usual insult battles. You poked him right between the veins of his heart by verbally—and playfully—reinforcing his worst fate: the thought of you being with another, loving another, while he sits and watches. They were all friendly jokes to you, but your friendly jokes were his nightmare.

And unfortunately, those kinds of nightmares are often left unbeknownst to the person causing them.

“That’s good to hear.” He mumbled half-heartedly, and you could hear it in his voice that he was upset, you just didn’t know why.

It was your turn to stop in the hallway, pulling at your joined hand to keep him from walking farther away from you. When Hyunjin turned around to look at you with faint confusion in his eyes, you were taken back by how different he appeared. The monotonous expression on his face was unsettling to you, but instead of being able to see right through that he was upset about all that he felt for you, you simply assumed he was annoyed from what happened.

“I did hurt you pretty badly, huh?” You whispered to yourself, glancing down at the floor before looking back up at him. Your eyes brightened with a captivating force, a courageous glimmer Hyunjin has never seen before; it made him breathless for a moment, unable to conjure thoughts of his own as you fill yourself in his head easily.

“Let’s get something to eat. I heard someone bought a cotton candy machine to school today,” you said, curling your fist. “My treat, for falling on you.”

Hyunjin frowned, “I told you I’m okay–“

“No, I’m not okay with it. I have to treat you something!” you urged, taking a step forward to get closer to him. “It’s not a date, but have lunch with me.”

It was hilarious to think that you really believe if you had crushed his hip bone, buying him lunch and asking him first would be able to compensate for the painful damage. But it was even more hilarious to know that Hyunjin would forgive you with that, as if he hadn’t already forgiven you for it.

* * *

"Here,” Hyunjin said as he carefully took a spoonful of rice and a piece of chicken, moving it to your mouth slowly.

You had long gotten over the fact that you forgot you were the one who got the dominant hand taped to Hyunjin, resulting in the need for him to feed you the food you bought. You did resist the urge to eat, all just to make sure you would be caught having him feed you food. But you’ve merely had a piece of bread with a minimal amount of strawberry jam this morning, and your stomach went against your will to growl in front of his face as he munched on the orange chicken combo.

“You know–this is better than I thought it would be,” you twirled the straw in your hand, the ice in the foam cup clattering against each other. After taking a sip, you eyed Hyunjin and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to try it? I know it’s homemade but it’s not like it’s poisoned.”

“How do you know it isn’t?” Hyunjin asked.

You rolled your eyes, “I don’t think our school has any potential homicidal maniac.”

He huffed, messing around the food with the plastic spoon before he spooned one up and took a bite for himself. You sniffed the air a little, taking in a prolonged breath before glancing at him again, prepared to ask the same question of whether he would like to try the homemade slushie because you were about to finish the whole cup.

“Alright, fine, I’ll try it,” he dropped the spoon and grabbed the cup. He, thoughtlessly, took a sip from the straw before he hummed, pleasantly satisfied by the fresh mango taste. When he finally looked up at you, your eyes flashed victoriously at him.

He rolled his eyes and pushed the cup back to you, muttering a very faint compliment with his head down. And then it was the obnoxious sound of sucking on straws that caught his attention. He perked up with furrowed brows, looking at you as you scanned your surroundings with your lips perched around the straw.

The space where his lips were just on, mind him.

Oh god, how did he not realize this—you two have been drinking from the same straw and eating from the same spoon for the entirety of this lunch! How did _you_ not realize it? You were normally so attentive, you notice the little things; like if he so much as avert his eyes a little during the practice tests you make him do in the library or if he got a tiny band-aid around his thumb.

Maybe you did notice but didn’t say anything about it? Hyunjin rolled his eyes. Why did that thought make him want to smile? It is such a childish situation feel hearty for! It is just one of those indirect kiss situation. Hyunjin would much prefer to have a direct kiss if anything!

He dropped his head again, his hair falling prettily over his face, covering the faint smile that had made its way up. Tilting your head to the side curiously, you tried to meet eyes with him anyway as you pulled the drink away from your mouth and called for his attention. Your brows furrowed in confusion when he glanced slightly at you, taken back by his suggestive smirk.

“What?” You asked.

“We have been using the same utensils this whole time,” he pointed out, gesturing towards the plastic cup with the spoon.

It took you a moment. You had to glance back and forth between the straw and the open-air surrounding you, your head filled and processing with thoughts even though the subject matter was an easy one: you two—indirectly—swapped spit, to put it grossly. When it finally hit you, your jaw hung open in shocked realization and your hand gripped the plastic cup tighter because of it.

“Okay,” you shrugged, putting the cup down and returning your hand to your lap you clutched a hold of your uniform, “what about it?”

Hyunjin hummed inwardly, an intrigued hum. He sat up straighter and leaned his temple against the back of his fingers after he propped his elbow up on the lunch table. The tip of his tongue poked against his inner-cheek, showing itself briefly when his mouth widened to release a low chuckle. It was just like always; your mouth was saying one thing but your body was reacting a different way.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, mocking a pout, “you are the one blushing, not me.”

You glared to the side, your hand instinctively flying up to check the heat of your cheek. It felt normal, and you figured Hyunjin was probably just messing with you. But the fact that you went ahead to check for yourself had just given him more windows to make fun of you, seeing that he was trying so hard to hide the grin against the back of his hand as he looked at you with a somewhat affectionate gaze.

“Yeah–okay, so we drank from the same straw. Big deal, Hyunjin.” You rolled your eyes, moving forward to give his shoulder a hard shove. “Friends do that. It’s whatever.”

Your third time trying to trap him with a label and you did it, again, with the most dubious voice you could ever muster. You couldn’t even sound confident in yourself about just being friends with him, how was Hyunjin supposed to be convinced by you? Not to mention he never wanted to be convinced of that idea.

The look he gave you a second after your voice dropped was unreadable. His smile was gone and his expression bounced back to one of neutrality. It was when he suddenly scooted closer to you, closing the distance you had carefully placed between you both on the bench, his free hand palming over your balled-up fist. You could only stay stoic in place when he leaned closer to your face, his eyes sharp as a cat looking through your every thought.

“Please, (Name),” he whispered boldly. “You and I both know we are not that kind of friends.”

He was so close, almost too close. Your wide eyes shook desperately to find a space to place themselves, anywhere but at him, yet it kept being pulled back to his face where your heart laid down its many desires. Your mind scrambled to find something to say; a retort, preferably something snarky to save the last drip of dignity your heart was ready to give away.

“You know what I mean,” he said, arching a brow, “don’t you?”

It felt like he was getting closer because you could feel the prickling of his hair against your cheek. And you couldn’t move, you didn’t quite want to move at this point. The worst thing he could do was kiss you in front of everyone, and by your standard that could never be the worst thing Hyunjin could do to you. If anything, it would be the best thing; it helps spring forth your night fantasies.

The only worst thing he could do is kiss you and not mean it, and some broken parts of you were very afraid that the scenario would take up most of the possibility.

“Ew! They are gonna kiss each other, gross!”

Hyunjin closed his eyes. One could tell easily from the clenching of his jaw that he was beyond annoyed, but who could blame him? It felt like the perfect moment just then, it was like you were waiting for him to make a move first and he was so determined and so excited to do something about your willingness to stay on the spot for him. He has waited ages for that!

To have the right moment be ruined by some stranger’s immature, young sibling was absolutely aggravating.

You cleared your throat as you pushed him away by the shoulder, turning to your side to smile at the little kid who was shamelessly pointing his index finger at you both. You were not sure if you wanted to thank the child or be disappointed that nothing came out of that gut-wrenching moment. You had powered through it for nothing, your heart jumped so strongly for a kid to ruin it all.

“Fucking brat,” Hyunjin muttered under his breath as he threw the five-year-old a glare, causing the little boy to stick his tongue out before he ran away laughing just in case Hyunjin suddenly decided to jump him for being disrespectful.

“Were you really planning on fighting the kid?” You asked when you saw him relax against the edge of the table. And you laughed when he nodded with his eyes closed, his face perched skywards to feel the blueness. “Honestly, I feel like you would have done the same thing.”

Hyunjin opened his eyes, squinting it because of how bright the sky was. “Hate to break it to you,” he mumbled. “But I think I have always been good at judging if a situation is important enough for me to not ruin it.”

You wanted to ask what he meant. If he genuinely thought what happened was important and why he thought so. But you only fiddled with the hem of your shirt, staying in silence for a minute before you stood up and urged him to head back into the game with you.

* * *

**Game III: The Routine Game**

Felix beckoned you over to him when he saw you making your way through the front door. You did so with a smile, glad to see a friendly face around when you were stuck overthinking about everything that happened during lunch.

“Lixie! I didn’t know you are coming to school today!” You exclaimed when you dragged Hyunjin over to him, one arm wide open in preparation for a hug.

“Jisung asked me for help at the last minute so I came. ” He giggled, opening his arms for you as well. “I have never helped out with school fairs so I wanted to try it out, with this being my last year and all!”

Hyunjin scoffed when you reached over to give Felix a tight hug, pressing your cheek against his for a quick moment before you pulled away. If you had stayed a second too long, he would have pulled you backward using your joint hands, pretending like he made a mistake and forgot your hands were taped together or something.

God, how many adorable boys were you friends with, exactly? Too many for his romantic journey to be an easy fight. Just when he thought the list stopped at Seungmin and Jisung, another one popped up.

This one has a very nice smile too, and a voice that sounds like old wine made out of red liquified velvet. Attractive and a very nice voice, also seems extremely nice. How bloody fantastic. Hyunjin rolled his eyes and turned back to observe Felix, he hummed.

Well, at least he wasn’t that tall.

Felix looked behind you at Hyunjin when you pulled away. His eyes brightened innocently as they traveled down to your taped hands, and then his mouth opened in cheery surprise as he pointed his finger back and forth between you two.

“Ah, so you two _are_ dating each other! I kind of figured but I never got around to asking,” he waved his hand dismissively, his voice scrunching up funnily.

You drew in a light breath. What the hell was up with people assuming you and Hyunjin are together? Was it only because of the taped hands? Because that would be a stupid thing to base the assumption off on. It should be because you two felt like a couple, right? You knew you would much rather have that be the reason.

“We aren’t… we aren’t actually dating,” you denied, giving Felix a laugh. “He just happened to be around when we signed up for the game.”

“Oh?” Felix tilted his head to the side. You almost had you convinced, but just one simple look at Hyunjin was enough to break the bubble of trust. And when he turned back to you, he was able to notice facial movements he didn’t think too much about before.

He lowly hummed, suddenly acknowledging the tension floating between you both—the tension that steamed from the line of love and lust, both very permanent and flaming. It was almost overwhelming to just look at you both and know so much more than you two boneheads do about each other.

“That’s fine. It’s not like that’s required or anything.” Felix shrugged. “Let me explain the game to you so you two can be done with it then, it must be awkward to hold hands for so long.”

You didn’t speak, you just smiled at Felix as he walked behind the table where several skincare products were placed. Come to think of it, the hand-holding stopped bothering you so much after the first game. You could still feel his hand, having yet to turn into a sweaty mess, but you were doing it naturally now unlike the first moment he slipped his fingers through yours.

You have grown to feel calm with his presence; the honeymoon phase where you would jump out of your skin at the smallest contact with Hyunjin just passed without a word. Everything was just meant to be now—calm and made for each other.

The only heart-racing trigger you have would be the idea of having to separate from him at the end of this and feel how empty your hand would be without his own to cling onto.

“This game is easy. All you have to do is apply all these skincare products here on the other,” Felix explained. "Just like a night-time routine! And don’t worry, they’re just lotions and toners so they probably won’t ruin your skin too much.”

You grimaced at his threatening wordings, but you laughed after Felix left you both to carry out the game. You looked over at Hyunjin, “You can afford some breaking to your skin quality.”

He laughed, “You, on the other hand.”

You gave him a defeated sigh, not bothering to say anything in return. “Yeah, I know.” You resisted the urge to press your palm to your cheek. “Makes my whole face all jacked up.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he frowned, squeezing your hand for the first time since the second trial game.

“Yeah, I know that too.” You softly replied, looking at the bottles of cream and lotion.

It took a while for you both to even twist the lids open. The couple that tinkered around with this set previously must have tried really hard to make it difficult for the next one. When you were finished with opening them all, you two finally got around to deciding that you would be applying everything on his face because for one, you did the last trial, and two, his flawless skin could afford some damage if there would be any.

“Hyunjin–” you sighed a little as you stared at him, then you asked while sitting straighter, your torso leaning forward as your hand moved over to his hair in an attempt to see if you could gather them all. “Have you tried tying your hair up?”

“What?” He questioned, grabbing your hand and moving it away from his hair.

“It would be easier if you can tie your hair up, it’s like… in the way of your face right now,” you complained. “And I am trying to put lotion on your face.”

“Do you have a hair tie?” He asked then. “I can try doing that if you do.”

You cursed under your breath, your empty wrists the perfect answer to his question. “Ah, whatever,” you dismissed the problem with a quick flick of your wrist. Turning to the opened bottles at hand, you smeared a small portion of white cream on your finger before turning back to him. You grimaced, carefully tapping his chin with your finger, “Move your chin up a little.”

He did as you told him to, his hair falling back against his ears when he did to reveal more of his face. You smeared the lotion on the tip of his nose first, then you proceeded to graze more on his cheeks, his chin, and his forehead before getting to smooth the cream out all over his face.

You tapped his face with feathery lightness, making sure nothing sneaks into his eyes or stains his hair messy.

For once your chest lacked the fluttery feeling even when you were so close to his face. You were so concentrated on your task; you muttered things under your breath, voicing the tiny movements of your hand, shooing his hair away when it kept falling over his face and forcing you to tuck it behind his ear. You did not register the longing present in Hyunjin’s eyes as he openly stared at you.

It was surprising at first, like he didn’t expect for such mere skin contact to create such an electrifying feeling, but with each swipe of your finger was a loving swirl of his heart and you led him to relax into himself soon enough.

“Okay, just one more and we’ll be done,” you said as you reached your finger into the jar and smeared the soft, artificially scented cream on top.

You carefully swiped your finger across his cheek, leaving a trail of whiteness on his baby soft skin. With your fingers spaced widely, you dabbed his skin with your index finger, precise and careful. And when your wrist got tired, you changed position to cup his jaw in your palm so you could finish the job with your thumb. Your movements were skilled, almost as if you were used to applying cream on Hyunjin.

His eyes have not once left you. But when you cupped his jaw this time, he found himself leaning his cheek against it. You paused, finally noticing him and the fondness displayed in the crinkle of his eyes and the curve of his smile. Hyunjin leaned on you like a child would cling to a trusted one, and he smiled at you as lovers would to each other.

A whispered laughter left your chest. You thought you were going to kiss him.

“Stop looking at me like that,” you mumbled, looking elsewhere as your thumb went back to working on his face.

He hummed out a giggle, “Like what?”

 _Like you are in love with me._ You opened your mouth for a smile and didn’t speak.

A quick minute passed with you dodging his eyes and him following trails of your face. When you waved Felix back over, he handed you a quick nod of approval at how shiny Hyunjin’s face looked. At least he knew you did as the game asked you to. Before he could mark down a check on your joined hands, he looked between you both and asked.

“Did you two do the last thing?”

“What thing?” You tilted your head to the side, looking behind to check the products given to you on the table.

“Oh, right–I keep forgetting. It’s a surprise task at the end.” Felix snapped his fingers. “Since this is supposed to mimic a night routine, the surprise task is for the pairs to kiss each other to seal the night.” He dramatically said, staring off into a faraway distance.

The easy smile he gave you helped nothing to soothe your nervousness. He must be joking. It wasn’t like every pair who signed up to play this game were really couples anyway. Wiping your hand on your thigh, you awkwardly laughed, ‘Wha–what?”

Felix nodded, “A kiss.”

“Like, really? Like a legitimate one?”

“Yeah, what else?”

“But why? Do we have to do that?” You frowned, looking at Hyunjin who only occasionally glanced at you as he, too, kept his attention on Felix. “That’s weird, I don’t want to do that with him.”

“I mean…“ he waved his hand, paused at the rising tension fuelling between you two.

It was an abrupt request, Felix knew because he made it up on the spot, and even he thought maybe the joke would not be taken as amusing. He anticipated the shock from both of you, but so far he was only gaining a reaction out of you. You talked nervously, but you made it sound like you absolutely despised the idea of kissing Hyunjin. And that, that made Hyunjin… well, Felix couldn’t tell.

Hyunjin had an unreadable expression, which was how Felix saw him most of the time. Weary eyes and heavy shoulders—intimidating but not hopelessly scary. Felix always knew Hyunjin was soft, or at least he would be to a selective group of people; while he had no idea what goes on outside of the school, he knew that in school, the people who could break him out of that stoic facade were pretty girls, and then you.

And he could see it in Hyunjin’s eyes that he had always been much more sincere with you than everybody else.

Felix couldn’t see it on Hyunjin’s face at the moment, but he reckoned he wouldn’t be feeling too nice about your reaction. And you? He was more than confused at your defensive reaction. He was thinking it would lean more towards a shy, flustered, more entertaining response than a flat-out refusal.

“It’s just… it’s just–“ he was quickly cut off.

“They don’t want to do it, Felix,” Hyunjin mumbled.

“Yeah! I was just joking, it’s just a joke,” Felix said quickly, finding it increasingly harder to laugh the matter off.

You didn’t dare to turn to Hyunjin, scared that he might be looking at you with those guilt-inducing butterscotch eyes. “It’s not… it’s not a funny joke,” you muttered to yourself.

Felix signed you two off, trying to make light conversation with you. Hyunjin said nothing.

* * *

Seungmin watched as you and Hyunjin broke away from each other in silence, but it was not before your fingers lingered together for another moment longer.

“Thanks for the help,” you said, twisting your wrist and folding your hands together to compensate for the chilling cold that hit your skin.

“No big deal. I am supposed to take the tape away,” Seungmin replied with a shrug, retracting the cutter and throwing it back into the stationary box. “You can take the tape if you want to exchange the prize. It’s probably just shitty things like pencils and notebooks though.”

You smiled faintly with a nod, “Yeah. I don’t think the school is gonna invest in anything more than that at a school fair.”

When you turned around to ask for Hyunjin’s opinion, you found that he was no longer standing next to you. Your shoulders slumped, it was his turn to abandon you somewhere this time, and like he said—you did not feel too happy about the wordless departure.

Taking notice of your tensed body, Seungmin raised his brows and gave your shoulder a light tap to catch your attention. When you whipped around to face him, he was taken back by your teary eyes.

“Did Hyunjin do something?” He asked suspiciously, finding it hard to believe the blond-haired boy would ever do anything to hurt your feelings.

You squeezed your hands together and shook your head, “No. I think I did something. I–I think he is mad at me.”

He blinked. “Okay? You don’t have to cry over it, do you? It’s not like he has never been mad at you before.”

“No, it’s just–” you pursed your lips together.

Hyunjin has been mad at you before, rare but it has happened. He has a very high tolerance, he wouldn’t speak of it even if you unreasonably take your frustration out on him. He would just make you treat him to snacks and drinks, and that would be the end of it. Not once has he ever given you the silent treatment he just did.

“I said something I didn’t mean and then he’s upset about it,” you said.

“What did you say?” Seungmin asked, leaning back against the desk and crossing his arms, ready to go full-on counselor mood for you.

You told him everything, about Felix’s jokes and about how you reacted to it and about Hyunjin being visibly annoyed in the aftermath. Seungmin was frowning by the time you finished, less sympathetic, and more frustrated with the situation.

For one, Hyunjin didn’t have to be so riled up over a stupid comment like that. You said it was weird to kiss him and you acted as you would hate it. That was it. He understood that Hyunjin could be upset that it sounded like a rejection, but he should have taken it as that—a rejection. There shouldn’t be any hatred involved.

And then you. He just wanted to grab your shoulders and shake the feelings out of your sealed vault. How did you manage to do all that? How did you manage to lie to yourself so deeply that you could say things that go so much against your heart?

“I just want to make this clear, so I’m not giving you the wrong kind of advice,” he said, pushing himself off the desk. “You like Hyunjin, correct?”

You gulped. Seungmin has very compelling eyes. “Yes.”

“Do you know he likes you back?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” you shook your head.

“Good, now you do,” he informed with a clap of his hands. “Hate to have it come from me but that dry-hay-for-hair boy likes you back.”

You sighed, waving your hand at him, “No. I know–I don’t know. Like… I don’t know if he means it.”

“Why wouldn’t he mean it?” Seungmin questioned.

“Not with me, I don’t think so,” you fiddled with your fingers. “Why would he?”

“Don’t ask me that, ask him. He is the only one who knows why he likes you,” Seungmin said.

You glanced at the floor timidly, and Seungmin knew immediately that you were assuming the worst. What if Hyunjin couldn’t say anything? What if there was nothing loveable about you?

Softening, he nudged your leg with his feet, making you look up at him with furrowed brows. His eyes skipped to the side where the classroom windows were and he pursed his lips at the sight he saw.

“You know, Hyunjin… he… I have never seen him cling so much to someone before. I don’t know him that well but ever since middle school, I have never seen him hang out with just one specific person or one specific friend group.” Seungmin tilted his head to the side. “Not gonna lie, I was kind of glad he got you as a friend. It was getting a little annoying to see him alone all the time.”

“Hyunjin doesn’t lack options, (Name). With that face, plenty of people flock to him any chance they get,” he gestured towards the window, asking you to look.

Hyunjin has not gone too far. He was just outside, and a part of you hoped that he had just been waiting for you this whole time. His smile was so pretty as he smiled down at a small group of girls, possibly from another school judging by their casual clothes. You could practically hear his giggles from where you stood, laughing, and joking about with the strangers.

God, he gets along with people so easily. It should have hit you much sooner that Hyunjin could always drop you for someone better because there will be someone better awaiting his company and his affection.

“Not saying you are bad, (Name), but Hyunjin can always choose someone else,” Seungmin said. “He just picks you, all the time, so why not give it a chance. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“I get rejected and I have to face humiliation for the rest of my high school life because I can’t exactly drop the tutoring job?” You mumbled.

“You worry too much.” He rolled his eyes. “I figured I would be pretty upset too if someone I like thinks it’d be weird to kiss me. Wouldn’t you?”

You grimaced. He has a point.

“Thank you,” you said gratefully then, leaning in to give Seungmin a hug he didn’t feel like returning.

You pulled away and took a deep breath before making your way out of the classroom. Your heart beat anxiously as you turned to face Hyunjin’s back, then you called out his name. From inside the classroom, Seungmin watched with attentive eyes. His brows furrowed when Hyunjin didn’t budge from his spot.

“Hyunjin, hello?” You called again, making sure you were loud enough for him to hear you over his own chatter.

The girls standing before him paused to look behind him, their eyes landing you awkwardly before they pointed your way, indicating to him that you had been standing there asking for him. Hyunjin paused in the middle of his sentence, wanting to turn around but the stubborn, bitter part of him told him to ignore you.

“Hyunjin–look, I’m sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean it,” you said, your skin pricking when you saw the girls looking back and forth at you and him; you assumed he had started talking again, neglecting your words.

“Hey, I think that person is looking for you.” One of them cut him off, glancing worriedly at you.

“They’re no one important. It’s fine.” His voice was light but his words were deafeningly loud.

Your brows raised in surprise. Your chest couldn’t register the pain yet but you needed to feel something, so it slapped you with the closest emotion it could find. After the surprise was confusion, a dilemma you needed to choose. Did he say that because he was fuelled by anger or did your worst nightmare happened and he really just dropped you for people much better?

And suddenly you started to laugh out of fear, the fear of embarrassing yourself in front of all these people roaming the hall happily. Your mind was starting to twist and it was starting to process his words. They burst through your eardrums and circled your heart like thorny vines, torturing it until it explodes.

You needed to hide it, the tears threatening to fall as your heart finally took the damage of Hyunjin’s words. You needed to mask it quickly before they fall. So you laugh, and you looked over to Seungmin who kept glancing between you and Hyunjin.

"You were wrong,” you mouthed to him, shaking your head. And when he planned to walk towards you, you held up a hand to stop him.

If he came out to comfort you, you knew you would burst into sobs, and you would rather not do that.

You gave him a curt nod and turned around, quickly making your way to the stairway so you could get out of the school, or just anywhere you could let yourself out freely.

Someplace where laughing it off isn’t required. Strangely, that place used to be wherever Hyunjin is.

* * *

Your vision was getting increasingly blurry, causing the little number dots in your locker’s lock to fade into incoherent symbols.

After taking a breather in the restroom, hoping to God nobody walks in as you cried your heart out by the sink, you washed your face and decided it would be best for you to head home. At least then, you could curl yourself up in a ball on your bed and perhaps your mom could cook you some warm, comfort meal.

You turned the dial multiple times, keying in the combination again and again but to no avail. Frustration was starting to get the best of you the more your lock wouldn’t open, at least point you didn’t even try to turn the lock, you just forcefully pulled at the metal piece hoping that your anger could be channeled into strength.

You felt both annoyed and useless, but mostly you were heartbroken at what Hyunjin said. He didn’t have to go as far as to say you were unimportant, did he? That was him throwing months of friendship away, and that was him stomping on your affection that has been months in the making, at this point going stronger than ever.

“Seven… fourteen… ten… fuck!” You exclaimed under your breath, rubbing your eyes to cast away the tears and to clear your sight before you tried again. Your hasty hands were all over the place, moving a little too far and a little too much, causing rounds of incorrect slightly wrong combinations.

In the midst of your temper tantrum, a pair of gentle hands reached from above and took over. You looked over to find Hyunjin standing behind you, his backpack slung over one shoulder. Your eyes grew weary, and for some reason, you couldn’t bring yourself to be mad at him at all.

“There,” he muttered after successfully unlocking the lock on the first try.

You looked back at the locker then, reluctantly opening your locker and taking your bag. During the entirety of you swinging your bag over shoulders and sealing your locker shut again, he stood behind you closely and you didn’t dare spare him a glance nor a word.

Your fingers lingered on the lock dial, contemplating what you wanted to do. Should you ask if he meant what he said? Was he here to mend or to break your heart even further? Did you want to find out? You were more scared about the worst than you were hopeful about the best, so you probably didn’t want to find out.

You didn’t want to find out. It would be best but you would rather he makes his point by just not talking to you ever again. With that in mind, you heaved a sigh at your locker, the shudder in your voice forcing a few stalled tears to fall. You rubbed them away and turned to leave.

“How about a thank you?” Hyunjin called after you, slowly approaching you when you paused.

Abruptly turning around, you shrugged and looked at him with your red, puffy eyes. He gulped, finding it impossible to keep his expression neutral at the realization that he caused this.

“Thanks,” you muttered and turned around to leave him again, but a hand held onto your school bag and stopped you from walking any further. You turned around when he let go, a saddened frown on your face, “What?”

“I’m sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean it,” he said after staying quiet for a while, gathering his thoughts, perhaps.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know that,” you laughed bitterly, rolling your eyes. “I–I don’t even know if you mean what you just said.”

Hyunjin pursed his lips. His eyes widened as he seemed to have found something, something important about you. Your insecurity was something he never let his assumption trespass, something he now thought could have a strong relation to why you kept denying your feelings for him despite making your actions so obvious. It was because you didn’t think it’d be possible for him to love you.

He didn’t understand why you thought that way, but he understood that you possibly could so he wouldn’t ask you to explain everything to him explicitly until you were ready to tell him about it, on your own terms. But for now, there was something he desperately needed to do, something important.

Your torso leaned back when Hyunjin bent to your eye-level, his face a daring inch apart from yours. You worried if anyone would come by and catch you both stuck in such a position, but thankfully another class decided to perform, causing most people to flock to the school’s front yard instead of the student lockers’ floor.

“I will show you how much I meant what I said if you will let me,” he whispered, the intensity in his eyes once again making your knees weak.

He was too close. Your heart beelined up your throat and got itself stuck at the tip of your tongue, surrendering with a shaky breath. Not knowing what else you could say, thoughts forming in disarray, you resorted to letting your heart take full control of what you do. Your hands flew up to the side of his face and you kissed him first, closing your eyes tight in anticipation of the fireworks while you neglected the anxiety forming in your abdomen.

You pulled away for a brief second, your eyes groggily opening to get a glimpse of Hyunjin as the smacking sound of your impulsive kiss echoed in your ear. A smirk was all you caught before you closed your eyes again to welcome him forward.

And then Hyunjin was kissing you back; intensely, urgently, so hard that you felt your back hit against the locker because he couldn’t get close enough, so fervently your lips could feel each graze of his teeth. He placed his hand over your palm and the other slipped behind your head, pushing you to him as he drowned in the way everything was so tender about you—him clutching your hand, the smoothness of your hair, your swollen lips, and even the bridge of your nose.

The only thing rough about this was the kiss, and honestly, you two would not have it any other way.

The surface of your lips met when he pulled away, just close enough they brush past each other and lingered. You looked into his eyes, and suddenly you didn’t feel so scared anymore. Raising a brow playfully as a smile graced your lips, you asked, “A kiss is how you plan to show me you meant what you said?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, breathing air into your opened mouth as he stroked your cheek with his thumb. “Is it working?”

You giggled with a nod, leaning in to peck his lips once more. “I didn’t mean what I said either,” you muttered. “About it being weird if I have to kiss you and about me not wanting to do it.”

Hyunjin jutted his bottom lip out, a feign suspicious expression dawning on his face. His eyes crinkled adorably as he tilted his head, then his eyes traveled back to you from the ceiling, “Yeah, you’re gonna have to show me you really meant that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you said, rolling your eyes, “we aren’t going to do that here though. We got lucky that no one walked through here just then.”

He moved away then, giving you space to compose yourself after he so eagerly shoved you towards the lockers. You smoothed out your uniform before looking up at him, finding him smiling down at you fondly. A tiny shiver ran down your spine then; you wanted this for so long but learning to admit that Hyunjin returned your feelings might take some convincing on your own part.

“Now that our relationship has changed drastically, we have a lot of important things to discuss,” Hyunjin mused as he approached you, casually slipping his into yours and lacing your fingers together. He glanced up at the ceiling with a hum before lower his head, giving you a cheeky grin. “You know, like blindfolds and stuff.”

You punched his arm, finding the chuckle he let out in response both infuriating and endearing. Just the way you knew him—insufferable but loveable, nonetheless, especially by you. “If that’s the case, then I think I should start first,” you pointed up at his head, “You and your hair.”

He frowned, fiddling it with his finger and twirling a strand carefully, “What about my hair?”

“It looks like hay,” you commented.

It doesn’t. It is a shade of brownish-blond, falling gorgeously over the sides of his face and shaping it perfectly. It glimmered as his eyes did, bright and flowery, and you kind of loved it.


End file.
